Rare Red Squirrel admission


Every year at RSPCA Stapeley Grange Wildlife Cent re, around 120 dif ferent animal species are admit ted - f rom the more common (there have been 907 hedgehogs and 377 swans in 2018) to the rarer species - such as the elusive red squir rel!


In August , the RSPCA?


wildlife centre, based in Cheshire, admit ted a red squirrel af ter he was found orphaned in Formby, Merseyside - making him only the 10th red squirrel to arrive at Stapeley since 2012, and the only baby red squirrel to arrive at the centre since it opened in 1994.


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The number of red squirrels at Stapeley Grange is so remarkably small that when one arrives it is excit ing for the wildlife team.


As the squirrel was so young, he needed to be hand-fed puppy-replacement milk four t imes a day to help him gain weight . This took place over the course of 10 days, and when he seemed to be get t ing stronger, staf f encouraged him to eat on his own - an important part of wildlife rehabilitat ion.


As soon as he was able to eat on his own, he was given hazelnuts, walnuts, broccoli, carrots, a diet similar to what he?


d eat in the wild.


It is vital that rehabilitat ion at Stapeley - and the RSPCA?


s other wildlife centres East Winch, West


Hatch and Mallydams - is as hands-of f as possible with all the animals. They have to remain wild whilst in care as they won?t be able to rely on humans for food when they are back in their natural environment .


For this very sweet red squirrel, it was plain-sailing in terms of encouraging him to eat on his own and within days he was moved to a large enclosure in one of the outdoor pens at Stapeley.


quick shot of him as he returned home!


surroundings. Af ter a few days, a hatch in the cage was opened allowing him to return to the wild once again. He was last seen quickly scampering up a tree, but not before a quick look back to the camera, which allowed us to take a


acclimat ise to his new


Releasing an animal back into the wild af ter caring for it is so very rewarding for the team, part icularly with an animal thaht is as rare as a red squirrel. Every red squirrel we manage to rescue, care for and return back to the wild is going to benef it a struggling populat ion.?


Red squirrels have declined in Britain over a number of decades and can now only be found in a few areas of the country. They are listed as a priority species for conservat ion in UK conservat ion act ion plans.


5


Af ter two months of rehabilitat ion, the day came for us to transfer him back to Formby and into a ?sof t-release? cage which would give him to t ime to


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